drones in the big bend

The outer world is relentlessly inserting itself in the pristine Big Bend region of far west Texas.

At the end of December, the Federal Aviation Administration announced six states, including Texas, that will develop test sites for drones. Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, and Virginia will also host the research sites as the Federal Aviation Administration seeks to introduce commercial drones into US airspace.

Texas’ eleven test site locations will be spread across the state, and Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi has won designation as the research headquarters for all Texas sites. They are the Big Bend, south of Fort Hood, outside College Station, and several in South Texas outside Beeville and south of Corpus Christi.

After a packed public hearing in late November, Alpine’s City Council unanimously voted to reject Texas A&M’s proposal to launch drones from the Alpine municipal airport. Alpine’s triumph, however, is more symbolic than anything else. Unmanned aircraft will still fly over the Big Bend region because the take-off and landing requirements of drones are so forgiving and there is a proliferation of airstrips all along the Rio Grande.

Members of Congress and other politicians lobbied intensely to bring the work to their respective states. Representatives were jubilant about the likelihood that the testing will draw companies interested in cashing in on the fledgling industry.

An industry-commissioned study has predicted that more than 70,000 jobs would develop in the first three years after Congress loosens drone restrictions on US skies. The same study projects an average salary range for a drone pilot between $85,000 and $115,000. The FAA projects some 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years.

Drones have been mainly used by the military, but governments, businesses, farmers, and others are making plans to join the market. Many universities are starting or expanding curriculum involving drones. The FAA does not currently allow commercial use of drones, but it is working to develop operational guidelines by the end of 2015, although officials concede the project may take longer.

The growing use of drones has sparked criticism among conservatives and liberals who fear the creation of a surveillance state in which authorities track and scrutinize every move of citizens. “I just don’t like the concept of drones flying over barbecues in New York to see whether you have a Big Gulp in your backyard or whether you are separating out your recyclables according to the city mandates,” said Senator Rand Paul, R-KY. Paul has introduced a bill that would prohibit drones from checking for criminal or regulatory violations without a warrant.

Before we are too quick to accept this technological innovation and integrate it as normative of modern life, I think it is important to remember that the granddaddies of today’s drones, the V-1 rockets (which were also unmanned), were used for much more sinister purposes than the benign tasks being touted by today’s drone proponents. They were used by the Germans to not only deliver bombs, but propaganda meant to scare the daylights out of people… purposes that can easily be accomplished by today’s technology.